I'm gearing up for AG Nationals in Milwaukee in a few weeks, hoping for a 2:05. However my last couple of races this summer (oly distance) were complete disasters...without going into that I decided early this week to do a local sprint out of the city a bit to see if I could find my mojo. Wanted something simple for the bike to focus on pacing/fitness as opposed to "not crashing." Anyway, signed up last minute and thought in the back of my head I'd have a shot to win if things went well and none of the premier talent around here showed up.
Got up and drove out (50 miles, to the cornfields south of Chicago). It pissed down about 1.5 hours before the race, but cleared through so I hoped it would dry out before the start. Day before the race the indication was no-wetsuit, but the rain dropped the temp right to 78. I am a bit of a bigger dude for tris (~180 lb) and a decent swimmer so I hate barely wetsuit legal races (IMO the cutoff should be lower but that's off topic). So, have had some issues with hydration lately and goal was to not fuck up the swim going too fast/hot, pace close to FTP on the bike and not fuck up by crashing, and then hopefully feel strong and run a pretty fast 5k. The waves were men under 40, then 40+, then the same for womens. So I knew there would likely be some competition in the wave behind me. The race was listed as 800 m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run.
So, start the swim, went out fairly hard, after about 100 m I notice there are still 5-6 dudes hanging on (more than expected), and I see a guy on the right about a body length ahead so I push just a bit and catch his feet, and the pace is perfect, not working too hard but not too slow. Hit the turnaround, and after a minute the guy is fading and I hit his feet a couple times so I came around at basically the same effort and out of the water 1st in the wave (3rd overall). T1, ran a row past my rack so the guy I was drafting catches me and we leave together. He has some trouble getting into shoes, so I'm off. Pretty cool, there was a motorcycle to follow and I've never had this before. The course is not marked at all, they relied on volunteers only for directing athletes. IIRC, ten 90 degree turns, two ~150 degree turns, and a 180. Course is still wet, and roads are chip seal so pace isn't very fast but power is pretty good. Avg 24.5 mph + 288 watts on the garmin not including mount/dismount (stopped before that). At the turn around halfway I was at least a minute up, and it's great. Through T2, was expecting a bike to follow but nothing. Run course also not marked. A bit of confusion at a few intersections, but the volunteers point me where to go (being the 1st racer through they were not really paying close attention). I'm feeling good, high cadence maybe 6:30 pace by my estimation. Ready to hammer if someone came up on me and otherwise planning a quick closing mile. All the sudden I realize I'm back at the end of the bike course and the finish is ahead, but it's only been 10 minutes...end up with a 12 minute run and everyone congratulating me on the win. But I ask "isn't this a 5k run???" Apparently there was a fork in the run course and the volunteers pointed me toward the finish instead of through an out and back.
So the RD says "you won the race, you were so far ahead." more discussion, and I'm thinking I'm fucked because I know the rules so it's my responsibility to know the course. I remember when this happened at the Austin triathlon and CapTex a few years ago when I lived down there. The assistant RD says there was a 40+ dude pretty far out also (he was 1 minute back starting the run). So ultimately they apologize and offer me a refund and we all kinda know it sucks for me. All in all I'm satisfied I guess given the refund but I've never won overall before and I may never get another chance. Looking at the result, I needed to run the out and back in 8:10 to win. I pulled up the run map on my phone and clocked it in my car on the way out and it was almost exactly 0.5 miles (one way). So a sub 8:10 mile would have given me the win. Not to be I guess. Seems like it's rare things go right these days. Maybe I need a gorilla to guide my on the run course...
__________________________
Oh yeah!
Got up and drove out (50 miles, to the cornfields south of Chicago). It pissed down about 1.5 hours before the race, but cleared through so I hoped it would dry out before the start. Day before the race the indication was no-wetsuit, but the rain dropped the temp right to 78. I am a bit of a bigger dude for tris (~180 lb) and a decent swimmer so I hate barely wetsuit legal races (IMO the cutoff should be lower but that's off topic). So, have had some issues with hydration lately and goal was to not fuck up the swim going too fast/hot, pace close to FTP on the bike and not fuck up by crashing, and then hopefully feel strong and run a pretty fast 5k. The waves were men under 40, then 40+, then the same for womens. So I knew there would likely be some competition in the wave behind me. The race was listed as 800 m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run.
So, start the swim, went out fairly hard, after about 100 m I notice there are still 5-6 dudes hanging on (more than expected), and I see a guy on the right about a body length ahead so I push just a bit and catch his feet, and the pace is perfect, not working too hard but not too slow. Hit the turnaround, and after a minute the guy is fading and I hit his feet a couple times so I came around at basically the same effort and out of the water 1st in the wave (3rd overall). T1, ran a row past my rack so the guy I was drafting catches me and we leave together. He has some trouble getting into shoes, so I'm off. Pretty cool, there was a motorcycle to follow and I've never had this before. The course is not marked at all, they relied on volunteers only for directing athletes. IIRC, ten 90 degree turns, two ~150 degree turns, and a 180. Course is still wet, and roads are chip seal so pace isn't very fast but power is pretty good. Avg 24.5 mph + 288 watts on the garmin not including mount/dismount (stopped before that). At the turn around halfway I was at least a minute up, and it's great. Through T2, was expecting a bike to follow but nothing. Run course also not marked. A bit of confusion at a few intersections, but the volunteers point me where to go (being the 1st racer through they were not really paying close attention). I'm feeling good, high cadence maybe 6:30 pace by my estimation. Ready to hammer if someone came up on me and otherwise planning a quick closing mile. All the sudden I realize I'm back at the end of the bike course and the finish is ahead, but it's only been 10 minutes...end up with a 12 minute run and everyone congratulating me on the win. But I ask "isn't this a 5k run???" Apparently there was a fork in the run course and the volunteers pointed me toward the finish instead of through an out and back.
So the RD says "you won the race, you were so far ahead." more discussion, and I'm thinking I'm fucked because I know the rules so it's my responsibility to know the course. I remember when this happened at the Austin triathlon and CapTex a few years ago when I lived down there. The assistant RD says there was a 40+ dude pretty far out also (he was 1 minute back starting the run). So ultimately they apologize and offer me a refund and we all kinda know it sucks for me. All in all I'm satisfied I guess given the refund but I've never won overall before and I may never get another chance. Looking at the result, I needed to run the out and back in 8:10 to win. I pulled up the run map on my phone and clocked it in my car on the way out and it was almost exactly 0.5 miles (one way). So a sub 8:10 mile would have given me the win. Not to be I guess. Seems like it's rare things go right these days. Maybe I need a gorilla to guide my on the run course...
__________________________
Oh yeah!
